Today the Times takes a look at “hoopsters” — that is, hipsters who wear vintage basketball jerseys. Before we delve into the article, it should be noted that the Times has a bit of an infatuation with hipsters. In fact, just a month ago they were told to cool it with the term “hipster”. While today’s piece uses the term only once, passages like this make it pretty apparent that we are in fact reading about hipsters:

Walk Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a sunny Sunday, and you’ll spy any number of young men in vintage N.B.A. jerseys. It’s a safe bet none are headed to the basketball court.

Ah, yes, Williamsburg is where we lay our scene (duh). Anyway, as we said, dudes in Williamsburg are wearing vintage basketball jerseys. The whole idea is quite novel and ironic, no? But what exactly is driving these guys to pair an old school jersey of some obscure b-baller with their skinny jeans and thick-rimmed glasses? It’s probably, like, a psycho-social imperative or something:

David Matthews, a contributing editor to Deadspin, sees a possible psycho-social imperative behind the trend. “A friend of mine thinks that wearing an N.B.A. jersey is a way of showcasing your masculinity after years of figurative castration brought on by skinny jeans and the like,” he said. “She has a point, but at the same time, it could just be an ironic response to that idea.”

But then there’s the whole “but hipsters like small clothing” argument:

There’s a practical aspect, too. Many 20-somethings still have the jerseys they bought as children. Because they are made to fit loosely, and today’s Williamsburg crowd tends toward the slim-shouldered and slim-fitting, the child-size jerseys still fit.

Right. Anyway. What do you think about this latest hipster trend? Ironically cool or lamely ironic?